Chapter 3526
Chapter 3526
Chapter 3526
Just across the strait, only ten miles away from the expedition camp, there is a large mansion. Like the land a hundred miles east of the Kanmon Strait, it belongs to the Choshu domain daimyo Mori clan.
Although the capital of Choshu Domain was in Ogi Castle, more than a hundred miles away, the former domain lord, Mori Hidemoto, loved this place very much during his lifetime. Not only did he build a mansion here, but he was also buried in Kozan-ji Temple not far from here after his death.
Mori Hidemoto married the adopted daughter of the first shogun of the shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, as his successor, which was considered a political marriage between the two families. Therefore, the relationship between the Mori clan and the Tokugawa shogunate was once very close, and the shogunate also regarded the Choshu domain as the most important political ally in western Honshu.
However, after the incident in Kyushu last year, the Choshu domain's position was not clear, and it even maintained contacts with the Fukuoka domain across the strait.
This may be because the Choshu domain did not want to become the target of the Kyushu domains, or perhaps the current domain lord, Mori Tsunahiro, wanted to wait and see the situation to see whether the shogunate was capable of dealing with the troublemakers in Kyushu.
If the shogunate had no way to deal with them and could only watch Kyushu slip out of its control, then the Choshu clan might inevitably have some different thoughts.
The shogunate must have been aware of this crisis, so it quickly decided to launch an expedition against Kyushu at the end of winter, and notified Mori Tsunahiro to prepare the Choshu domain to become the front line of the war.
The preparations required by the Choshu domain were different from those in other places in Japan. It was not just about sending troops to fight, but also about preparing to receive the troops mobilized by the shogunate from all over the country.
The amount of materials consumed by tens of thousands of troops for food and drink every day is enormous, and a part of it must have been supplied by the Choshu domain nearby, which would inevitably have caused huge logistical pressure.
Although Choshu accepted the task assigned by the shogunate, it is hard to say whether it was willing to do so. After all, before the battle even started, Choshu had already consumed a large amount of material reserves and suffered considerable economic losses.
The Shogun Tokugawa Iematsu probably took into account the impact that this would bring, so he went to the front line to supervise the battle in person and set up his headquarters at the Mori Mansion in the Kanmon Strait.
When the weather is fine, standing on the high point of the Mori Mansion, you can overlook the coast of Kyushu Island across the strait, which is very convenient for observing the movements of the Kyushu coalition forces at the eastern end of the strait.
Tokugawa Ietsugu was naturally very dissatisfied with Hai Han's decision to bring a multi-national inspection team to the Kanmon Strait to watch the war. This was clearly an attempt to deliberately create obstacles for the shogunate's campaign against the Kyushu rebels.
After Sakai Tadamyoshi returned, he reported the results of the final negotiations with the Kyushu domains, which made Tokugawa Ietsugu even more furious.
"The Hai Han people are just buying time for the Jiuzhou rebels!"
Tokugawa Ietsugu angrily threw the pen holder on the table in front of him away. Even though it was a Haihan glass craft that he loved very much, he didn't care about that when he was angry.
The pen holder smashed against the wall and shattered into pieces. Everyone present was silent and dared not speak out to persuade the situation.
The shogunate mobilized troops from all over the country, and with Tokugawa Ietsugu personally leading the expedition, it was only natural that they would have to win in order to justify such a large-scale battle. However, Hai Han's intervention made the outcome of the battle full of uncertainties, and no one dared to pat their chests and guarantee victory against the Kyushu coalition.
According to the original battle plan, after the troops were assembled in the Kanmon Strait, the shogunate army should take the initiative to launch a sea landing to Kyushu. Given the width of the Kanmon Strait, they only needed to occupy a landing site on the other side of the strait, and then set up artillery on both sides to form a crossfire to block the strait. If the warships rushed in, they would not end well, and perhaps they could avoid a naval battle where the shogunate was not at an advantage.
Then tens of thousands of troops were gradually transferred over to engage in a decisive land battle with the Kyushu coalition forces. The shogunate army, which had superior manpower, had a clear chance of winning.
Moreover, by placing the battlefield in Kyushu, the impact of the war on the shogunate's rule could be minimized, and the shogunate army would be able to collect grain and manpower locally without any scruples.
By fighting like this and consuming Kyushu's war potential at the same time, victory is only a matter of time.
But now the Hai Han people have intervened, greatly affecting the implementation of the Shogunate army's combat plan.
The place where the Hai Han people camped was one of the landing sites pre-selected by the shogunate army. Given the strength of the shogunate army, they naturally did not dare to storm the camp where thousands of Hai Han soldiers were stationed, not to mention that there were dozens of Hai Han warships watching them at sea.
According to Sakai Tadakiro's report, during the military exercise held near Sasebo Bay a few days ago, Hai Han's largest ship, the Zhoushan, demonstrated amazing attack power, and its naval guns could easily destroy sea targets several miles away.
If we look at it from the perspective of the Kanmon Strait, it means that the Zhoushan can directly bombard the location of the Mori mansion at sea.
Although Hai Han currently claims that it will not participate in the war, it would be a disaster if it were to attack the Shogunate army when it crosses the sea to fight.
Hai Han defended the eastern end of the strait, where the defense was the weakest, for the Kyushu coalition forces, but the coastline to the west was not so easy to attack.
At the narrowest part of the strait, the Fukuoka domain built several artillery batteries last winter, so it was not easy to cross the sea under the artillery fire.
Although there are many flat coastlines at the western end of the strait, the Kyushu Allied Forces are deployed there and the sea is relatively open. The armed fleet of the Kyushu Allied Forces can also sail into this sea area to assist in defense. It is not the best combat environment for the attacking party, and it may turn into a naval decisive battle that the shogunate does not want to see.
Forced by this situation, the shogunate had to adjust the original battle plan, but if so, the timing of the war would have to be postponed, which was definitely not a good thing for the shogunate army, which had assembled far more troops than its opponents.
For every day the offensive was delayed, the shogunate's expenses were several times that of its opponent. If it dragged on for another month or two, the shogunate's army would be crushed by its own logistical supplies before it even started fighting.
Tokugawa Ietsugu did not have the patience to continue to fight with the Kyushu coalition forces, so he ordered his officers to formulate a new battle plan as soon as possible and launch the attack no later than the end of March.
However, this was not an easy task. The shogunate army was a coalition force composed of troops drawn from more than a hundred feudal domains across the country, among which more than twenty were led by daimyo themselves.
Each family has its own plans and ideas on how to use the precious troops they have worked so hard to build. Some want to charge into battle and grab the first credit, some want to fish while waiting for an opportunity, and some just want to get by and just go through the motions, as long as they can bring the troops back intact.
Each party has different ideas, so it is naturally not an easy task to temporarily formulate a battle plan that satisfies everyone.